Lives Collide
by Kahlan Locknar
Summary: A story if Jack had survived. Complete Now with Epilogue.
1. Aftermath

Authors note: This is my first fanfic so please...be gentle! I do however write original works, two of which can be found on fiction press under the same name. R&R. I will be posting the other chapters regardless of how many reviews I get. Thank you and enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights and characters of titanic. This story is based on the characters and storyline developed by James Cameron. The real titanic of course is/was property of White Star line and Harland & Wolff shipyards.  
  
It took several moments before Rose had the courage to leave the headboard. She heard the boat but it seemed like a dream. It had to be. She glanced up and tried to blink her tears away. Jack was gone. Why should she bother to get the boats attention if it wasn't even real anyway? With sudden realization, she heard a shout "is anybody alive out there?" 'I am' she though weakly. 'I'm alive. I promised Jack I would survive.' The boat rode by her and didn't see her trying to move weakly 'Come back,' her voice was harsh and cold. Finally, she pushed herself off the headboard in search of anyway to get the attention of the passing boats. She saw the man with the whistle and hurried too it. She blew it as hard as her cold, frozen lips would allow her too.  
  
Jack's eyes flashed open with a sense of unreconition. "There you go men; I told you he was alive." An elderly looking man stood over him. "Quite lucky you are son. You're the only one that we picked up that still had a pulse." Jack sat up slowly.  
  
"Where am I." he voice was raspy and he coughed up some water.  
  
"You're on our boat the Mackay-Bennett. We're to pick up the bodies you see."  
  
"How long has it...what's the date?" He looked around urgent.  
  
"It's April 16, although it's pretty late. Getting to be supper time."  
  
Jack realized that the sun was setting. "How did I survive?" he was asking himself more than the crew looking at him amazed.  
  
"Who knows? I've heard stories of people coming back to life because they got something to do on earth. Maybe your one of those people."  
  
"Maybe." He couldn't help but feel cold, with his soaked clothing, caked and frozen. The Manacles were still on his wrists. He now felt the weight. He swore he had been dead. He couldn't remember much. He remembered his last speech to Rose and then, he remembered feeling so tired and then, waking up to the surly sea men bringing him around. Where was Rose?  
  
"You must want some dry clothes eh?" The man noticed the handcuffs. "You get into some kind of trouble son?"  
  
"Ya, the worse kind. Love."  
  
"That will get you into loads of trouble." He picked up Jack's wrists and looked at the locks. "I got a guy downstairs that can pick anything. Pretty sure I can get those off of you." His look got darker, "do you want me to say we found your body without the soul."  
  
"Yes. Unidentified with my features. There are 2 people out there. They both think I'm dead, and if one of them knew it, I would be. The other, I might just decimate her if I find her, but having a powerful man on my back won't help matters."  
  
"Well best of luck to you son. Come now. The cooks making a good stew, it will certainly warm your bones."  
  
Rose looked up when she saw Cal walking up the deck; she then quickly shuddered and pulled the blanket closer. She thought about her options. Jack was dead, Cal had money. She remembered more of her awful memories. 'I don't want that kind of life, I'd rather be dead' she decided that she was dead. She was no longer the desperate angry girl. She was a survivor. She wouldn't look back, not ever. She was strong and although Jack wasn't there to see her, she was going to do everything that they planned.  
  
The Rain was cold, but not as cold as the ocean had been. She looked up at the statue of liberty. Finally, she understood the meaning of freedom.  
  
"Name love?" a man with a clipboard came up to her.  
  
She looked at him. "Rose," she thought a moment. Rose what? "Dawson. Rose Dawson."  
  
The man nodded and kept going to other passengers. She stuck her hand in her pocket and felt something cold and heavy. She pulled it out and found she had the necklace in her hand. The awful, gaudy engagement present. It was a small fortune sitting in her hands. She checked the other pockets. There was a pocket watch, a kerchief and a wad of 50-dollar bills. She smiled and started to laugh. Another passenger, tried and dirty looked at her strangely.  
  
"What's your name?" Rose asked the woman, she cuddled a small child.  
  
"Jessie. This here is Ruben." The woman had an Irish accent.  
  
"Are you immigrants?" Rose hated the way that it came from her mouth. She didn't want to sound like she was so stuck up.  
  
"Yes. We were coming to America for a better start." Tears welled in her eyes. "Jeffery and I that is. I've lost him. He's not here at all."  
  
Rose looked at the stack of bills. She could get more than enough money from the necklace. "Here." She thrust the bills at the woman. "You need this."  
  
The woman was shocked. Her hands trembled as she took the money. "I couldn't..."  
  
"It's in care of Caledon Hockley Jr." She smiled to herself. Finally, Cal had actually done something good, but it was too bad he didn't do it himself. She left the woman alone to thank her god. She had her own praying to do. It was time to start over and she knew exactly where she was going. To ride horses in the surf and ride the roller coasters.  
  
Jack stepped off the boat in a new set of clothes and a couple dollar bills that the crew had given him. They wished him luck and told him where he could find a man with the list of survivors. He needed to know if Rose had made it. The Crowd in front of the docks was packed and there was crying and shouting. He could hear someone shouting to be quiet. There was hush.  
  
"Please take your inquires to the White Star Line headquarters. Any complaints can be made there. I am only to help those to find their family. Please, make way for them. The crowd dispensed and only a crowd of crying woman stood in front of the man.  
  
"You sir?" the man said, looked at Jack.  
  
"Uh, me?" Jack asked.  
  
"Yeah, the name of your loved one please?"  
  
"Rose. Rose Dewitbukater."  
  
"Class?"  
  
"First." He said. The man looked at him funny. "You had a relative in first class."  
  
"Yes. Please." The man smirked and looked at the list.  
  
"Sorry sir, but there is no one of that name. Next?"  
  
"Please check in third class then."  
  
"Now listen here. I don't have time to be checking over the entire survivor list just because you had some crush on a girl that you couldn't have. Now off with you. The girl's dead anyhow." There were a few women that started to cry harder when the word 'dead' was mentioned.  
  
She hadn't made it. She was one of the bodies on the Mackay-Bennett or not even. She might still be out there in the ocean. He never cried but he felt a tear run down his cheek. How cruel fate was. He had made it and she hadn't. God had brought him back instead of her. 


	2. New Lives

Chapter Two  
  
Six months later.....  
  
"Miss Dawson, could you please repeat your lines once more." The director was starting to get impatient.  
  
"Certainly." Rose cleared her throat. The director yelled for her to begin her lines.  
  
"I told you already Mr. Thompson, I will not do anything that isn't involved in my job description. I am not your maid." She turned and flipped her hair at the Male actor 'Mr. Thompson."  
  
"Susan. I beg you, please. Just for tonight. I know that this isn't what you usually do, but my maid is sick and I have an important dinner guest. Please. I'll pay more than your salary."  
  
Rose turned. "I'm the nanny of your children, not the housekeeper. No amount of money could change my mind."  
  
The man took initiative and grabbed her arm and pulled her into an embrace. "Not even this?" and he kissed her passionately. At least, it seemed to be on the screen it would play on.  
  
"okay, that's it for today. Nice dress rehearsal everybody." Rose pulled away from him.  
  
"Maybe we should try it again later at my apartment Rosey? What do you say?"  
  
"Not in a million years Harry." She looked at the director. "Is that all for today?"  
  
"Yes. You can go now. See you bright and early tomorrow."  
  
"No problem Mr. Tate."  
  
"Please Ms. Dawson it's perfectly alright to call me Colin."  
  
"Not until you call me Rose." She smiled. "Night Mr. Tate." She opened the theater door and headed to where her little dressing room was. It wasn't really a dressing room, just a closet that was converted to hold her costumes and her purse. She stepped inside, changed into her normal clothes and headed toward the exit.  
  
She had been working in this theater for 2 months now and although the pay wasn't the best, she was happy she had a job. She had been working bit parts and this was the first leading role she had gotten. She was hoping that next; she'd try for a picture.  
  
It was October 30. she could sense the glee in the eyes of the children she passed. Somehow they all looked like they could be her child... Jack's and her's. Nobody knew she was on Titanic. She didn't want people to feel sorry for her.  
  
She saw her mother once. She had shown up for one of the plays. She was thankful that she only had a small 2-line part and she had worn a wig. She was sure her mother would have recognized her. She also had seen Cal. He had a beautiful new fiancé, or so she had read. She was this young little blonde thing that sat with her chin in her hands as she watched the play. She couldn't have been more than 15. But, not even her name in the program had got a rise out of them. She hadn't seen them since. New York was awfully far away from Philadelphia. Well, it was to her mother.  
  
She was thinking so deeply that she didn't even realize that she was headed straight into a head on collision with a man walking in front of her. She whacked into his shoulder and she fell to her backside. He tripped and dropped the portfolio he was holding.  
  
"Are you okay miss?" he asked without looked at her.  
  
"I'm fine." She started to get up and the man offered his hand. She took it. "Thank you." She couldn't see his face underneath his hat. He simply tilted it a bit, picked up his portfolio and started to walk again. Rose started to scoff after him, but changed her mind, knowing that it had been just as much her fault as his. She shrugged her shoulders and kept walking home.  
  
Jack was so busy thinking about the 100 dollars in his pocket that he didn't even realize that he wasn't watching where he was going. He collided with her shoulder and sent her to her bottom and he tripped slightly, dropping his portfolio.  
  
"Are you okay miss?" She started to rise. He didn't even bother to look at her. She was probably just like all the others. A stuck up actress. He offered his hand. She took it and got up.  
  
"I'm fine, thank you." He tipped his hat and left before she could ream him out for not watching where he was going, picking up his folder in the process. He didn't even look back. They were all the same. They weren't Rose.  
  
His little apartment wasn't much. Just a little room. The latest drawing he had shown the man at the gallery had been very impressed with it. He offered him a hundred bucks for it. That was almost more money than Jack had ever seen. He had enough to keep him going for a while. When he had first left the dock, he thought everything was hopeless. Then he realized he was a hypocrite. He had spent the last time with Rose telling her off for giving up; well he was going to take his own advice. The first thing he'd done was get a job at that dock, making a few bucks a week unloading ships. He eventually learned of a room from a buddy, and it was affordable. For a while he had been sleeping at the dock. The room had been furnished with a bed, a desk and a chair. He had eventually found a lamp in the garbage and scrounged up enough money for new drawing supplies. He still worked at the dock at night and spent the days sleeping and trying to sell his drawings.  
  
This had been the first real genuine offer. His boss at the dock had offered him 3 bucks to do a portrait of his daughter and he could sleep in the attic for the night afterward. The portrait was great and the attic, although he only had a thin blanket and worn pillow. After that, he had mentioned a little room for rent and offered to help him out until he had the money to pay for it on his own.  
  
Now he could pay him back for his kindness. The man at the gallery said that if he could bring him more real life drawings he would pay him more than just a hundred dollars. He couldn't imagine actually making a good living off of doing something he loved so much.  
  
He laid back on his bed and thought about the last 6 months. How he missed Rose. No other girl could compare and never would. 


	3. Torn Apart

Chapter 3.........  
  
4 years later.  
  
Rose watched excited as she saw her own face staring back at her from the screen in the cinema. It was so grand that she actually got to be in a picture. It had taken her over 3 years to get here, but here she was. She held tight to Harry's hand as he came into view. She looked over at him, and he at her and smiled.  
  
She didn't love him, but he loved here, and he had enough to take care of both of them for a long time. He had good investments and a good name. He had asked for her to marry him and she had said yes.  
  
She was never going to find another guy that would even compare to Jack, but she couldn't be lonely forever. She never mentioned him to anybody. Not one person ever. When anyone ever asked about her childhood, she got upset and refused to talk anymore. Everyone assumed that she was treated badly. How close to the truth they were. Now, she had a new life. She was an actress. She had done things that most people only think about. The War had a big toile on people. Everyone was doing their part for the men who were fighting bravely over seas. She refused to support fighting.  
  
When she had seen in the papers, the sister ship of Titanic, turned into a medical ship, underneath a headline of "Sunk in the Atlantic, many lives taken." She almost cried. It was so identical, except for the paint. When Harry had asked why she cried. She explained that war was senseless and went to her room for hours to mourn. Every April, form the 12 to the 15th she sat alone in her room, wishing not to be disturbed. It was the only real days she gave herself time to think about the few days she had known Jack and what it would have been like had he been able to leave The Carpathia with her. No one had put two and two together about the date. She would deny anything if anyone ever came close to guessing.  
  
Harry was now beaming. He has said that this was his last acting experience. He had come to New York to do what he had to do and he had come to California to do some of those things, and now, he was finished. Rose knew that it was the last for her too. They were going to his home, Cedar Rapids. He wanted to start a family, she didn't protest. She had gotten her freedom to do the things she said she would and now, she was tired too.  
  
The picture ended. Everyone clapped. Harry helped her to her feet and they started to leave the theatre. It was only a small theatre for cinema, but it was still an accomplishment to Rose and that's all that mattered.  
  
"Harry, I want to visit New York, one last time before we go back. I'd like to stop into this little gallery. When we were there, I was always admiring some of the work in the windows, but never had the chance to look inside."  
  
"Of course. You Can even buy something to take home, but you get a budget. I know you'll spend wisely, you have such a good taste in art."  
  
Rose smirked.  
  
"What is it?" he asked, quizzically  
  
"Oh nothing. Just reminded me of something someone said to me once. It's not important."  
  
Harry smiled and they left the theatre.  
  
Jack was happy. He had so many pieces in this gallery now. The owner never stopped buying his works, now he had some stuff that Jack was selling himself. Tonight, there was a whole wall devoted to his art. There were so many people of higher society looking at his work and some were shocked, others were thrilled.  
  
His new suit was somewhat stiff from being starched, but he looked good. A new hair cut and a semi used pair of shoes that the owner had given him. He had good feeling about this night. Very good feelings. He knew this was his big break.  
  
"Excuse me, are you the artist of those wonderful pictures?" a averagely built man asked, pointing to his wall of art. He had dark hair and eyes and Jack knew he was either an actor or a well off man.  
  
"Uh, yea, that's me."  
  
"Oh, well I was wondering about one piece there. To be honest, I don't know anything about art really, but my fiancé, she loves it. I wanted to buy her one of your pieces to surprise her. She got a funny look in her eye when she saw your work."  
  
"Oh sure. Show me which one you like." They walked over to the wall. The man pointed to one bigger one in close to the corner.  
  
"I'm Harry Calvert."  
  
"Jack Dawson." He extended his hand.  
  
He took it. "Hmm. I wonder. Could you have any relation to my fiancé? You see her last name is Dawson too."  
  
"I don't think so. I don't have any family."  
  
"Oh, well that's too bad." Calvert looked at the drawing for sometime and made a generous offer.  
  
"Well, that's mighty generous. Of course you know, I can't refuse." Jack smiled.  
  
"I wouldn't have expected you not too. A man has to make a profit."  
  
Jack chuckled and went to find the owner to take the painting down from the wall.  
  
Rose walked over to her fiancé and took his hand and squeezed gently. "What have you been doing over here?" she asked and smiled.  
  
"Oh, spoiling you rotten. See that drawing there. I bought it for you."  
  
Rose's smile faded. "Wow, you....I love it." She quickly found her smile. She couldn't deny the resemblance in the work to Jack's. She couldn't mistake it. Someone was very talented.  
  
"Rose. Look I want you to meet the artist." Rose turned.  
  
"Rose, this is Jack Dawson, Jack, my fiancé Rose." Rose almost fainted. It couldn't have been him. She was having a nightmare. This wasn't happening.  
  
Jack's smile faded. Instead of seeing some young uppity blonde plaything, there was Rose. His Rose. She was alive and more beautiful they he last remembered.  
  
"It's nice to meet a fan." Jack said and shook Rose's hand limply.  
  
"Well it's nice to meet a good artist."  
  
Harry almost started to say something about the tension when he looked around and saw someone he knew. "Rose, I see Mrs. Hargrove over there. She wanted to speak with me about the movie. I'll be back soon enough." He kissed her cheek and walked away.  
  
"Jack....it can't be you...I swear. I saw you go under. I saw you disappear."  
  
"I don't remember much about it, but all I know is that I remember telling you about going on and getting old and then I was in a black hole. Next thing I know, I wake up on the coffin boat and I'm alive. A bit of hypothermia, but well enough by the time we got back to New York. I went to the dock where they were talking about Titanic survivors. I asked for your name. You weren't on the list."  
  
"I changed my name. I didn't want mother or Cal to find me."  
  
"Oh, Rose." He hugged her. It took a moment before she hugged back. "I can't believe it. The crew was right. I did come back for a reason."  
  
"Jack, I'm engaged."  
  
Jack groaned. "Not this again. You're going to marry that man. I know you don't love him. I can see it. No one is going to be able to outlast you or even be in the same rank."  
  
"Except you right?" she asked.  
  
"Not even me."  
  
She was silent for a few moments. "You've gained a bit of weight."  
  
"You look the same. Beautiful."  
  
"I don't know what you want me to do. I've been with Harry for 2 years. I can't just leave him now."  
  
Jack stopped smiling and nodded his head and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I won't ask you too."  
  
Rose looked up at him. "You almost demanded that I leave Cal, what's changed?"  
  
"I've changed. Surpassing Death, living without you. I've grown up. Harry isn't like Cal. I can see that he actually cares about you, but your not going to be truly happy with him. You know it more than I do. I'll be honest. Now that I know you're alive, it will be hard, but I'll survive. I'll go on. So will you."  
  
"I'm sorry Jack."  
  
"I know."  
  
"I love you. I really do." Rose felt a tear starting down her cheek.  
  
"But not enough to change your sense of sacrifice."  
  
"Sacrifice...what do you mean? I've done everything I said I would. I even became and actress. I got back on a ship. I went horseback riding, the real way. I did everything I never thought I could do. How am I sacrificing by marring a man that has supported me without restrictions?"  
  
"Your letting the fires die too soon. You're only what? 21 now. It's still too early for you to just lay down and stop fighting."  
  
"There isn't anything to fight for Jack."  
  
"You've changed. I imagined a million times what I would have done had I knew you had lived. How our lives would be perfect. There is no such thing as true love."  
  
"No, there is true love. It is what we have, but it happened with fate against us." She brushed his cheek with her gloved hand. "I meant what I said. I love you. I always will."  
  
Jack pushed her hand away. "Go and make your pretend family. Pretend that everything is perfect. You said you were an actress right, well you've made your whole life just another stage to perform on."  
  
He walked away from her, leaving her to hold back her tears of hurt. 


	4. No turning back

Chapter 4..........  
  
'I'm so selfish' Rose thought, looking into the hotel mirror. 'I'm not marring Harry for him, because he's been there for me. I just need someone to be there with me. I'm not only hurting Jack, I'm hurting Harry as well. I can't do this.' She opened the bathroom door. Harry was reading the paper while sitting in a easy chair.  
  
He folded the paper and looked up at her. "Hi Honey. You didn't get ready for bed?"  
  
"No. Harry. I really need to talk to you about something."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It's about what happened to me in 1912. I've never told anybody and I think it's about time someone did."  
  
Jack was laying in the dark, thinking about the hurtful things he said. Maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh. He was so stupid for pushing her away entirely. He didn't think he would ever forgive himself for it. He still couldn't believe that she was alive. She was alive and he had basically called her spoiled and selfish. It was over. Rose was determined to marry Calvert and go on and become a perfect little wife. There wasn't a damn thing he could do about it either.  
  
'Crack!' Jack looked up just as something hit the window again 'crack!' He walked to the window, annoyed. He opened it, about to yell down into the alley for whomever to stop it and go to bed and there was Rose looking up at him.  
  
"Jack!"  
  
"Rose, what are you doing?"  
  
"Jack, let me come up." Jack reached out and let the lock loose for the fire escape. She climbed up and Jack helped her through the window.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"I couldn't go through with it. I can't marry him. I'm being selfish."  
  
"Rose, please don't throw everything away because I was jealous and stupid. You must care for Harry and you deserve to be cared for. I was wrong to be so cross with you."  
  
"No. You weren't. I was starting to fall into the spoiled little brat I was before. I devoted my life to not being her anymore and here I was, being petted and fancied like a show horse. It was what I was trying to get away from. I want to be with you Jack. I always have."  
  
"You really mean that?"  
  
"Yes. I mean it. Like I meant it four years ago."  
  
Jack smiled in the dark and kissed her passionately.  
  
"no going back now."  
  
"I'm not going back. Not ever." 


	5. Epilogue

Authors note:  This Chapter is dedicated to IWRY-ALWAYS.  I wasn't originally going to write another chapter, but since she loves the story so much, I've decided to include one more just for her.  Enjoy!   As Always, R&R.  J

Epilogue

Rose felt the cool May breeze through her thin white hair as she created another vase on the pottery wheel.   She smiled.  The simple things always made her happy these days.

Her granddaughter, Elizabeth, playfully nicknamed Lizzie by her father, was filling the cups in a cupcake pan.

She looked over at the small television set, which still seems odd to her, even now and caught the news story about something.

"Turn that up dear." Rose asked, Lizzie leaned over and turned the notch for volume control.

Rose got up, wiping her hands on her apron as she watched the set and then she gasped.  There on the television was a picture.  A very old drawn picture.  And it was of her.

"What is it Nana?"

"Well I'll be God damned."

"Are you comfortable Mrs.Buckman?"  Lovett asked.  Rose looked up from her set of pictures she set on the side board.

"Yes.  I always have my pictures when I travel."   Rose was on a ship, a ship that was right now, floating in the same spot that titanic had sank in more than 82 years ago.  

"Is there anything we can get you nana?" Lizzie asked.

"Oh, have you met my granddaughter Lizzie, she takes care of me."

"We met on deck, remember nana?" Lizzie asked.

Rose shrugged.  "Right."

"If there is anything to make your stay more conformable, anything you would like?"

"Yes, I'd like to see my drawing."

The picture looked the same as she had remembered it last.

"We're being very careful about preserving it."  Lovett walked around Rose to a table.  "These are a few things we recovered from your state room."

"Oh, these were mine."  She picked up the comb and touched the brush.  "They look the same as the last time I saw them."  She picked up the mirror.  The broken shards showed back her tired, aging face.  "The reflection's changed a bit."  She chuckled softly.   These seemed like another life ago.  She was still amazed at the advancement of technology and how lucky she had been when she had seen it all come into play.

Rose watched as the crowd's faces showed the different emotions as she told her story.  Even her granddaughter hadn't known the whole story.  She stopped after she mentioned Jack "dying" and how she made it to a lifeboat.

"What happened next?" Mr. Bodine asked, eagerly waiting for her next words.

"I saw Cal again.  I always went up to him, but I remembered all the horrible things he did and said to me.  I would be a slave if I had gone back to that life.  So, I started over and I became an actress."

"You know we never found Jack on any of the passenger lists." Mr. Bodine responded.

"You wouldn't have, would you?" she smiled.  "Four years went by and I was perfectly happy, or so I thought.  I was in a picture, I was known for the plays that I had done and I had a man that I thought would be the best part of my life, until, I ran into Jack."

"Jack…but…" Mr. Lovett said startled.

"He survived.  He was picked up by the ship that collected the bodies afterward.  He went on to sell his drawings in a gallery.  I didn't know, he didn't know I had survived either.   One night I went into that gallery, with my new fiancée on my arm and there he was.  At first, I wasn't going to leave Harry.  But I told Harry everything.  You see I hadn't told anybody about Titanic.  He understood."  She sighed.  "He had said 'Rose, I love you and I want you to be happy.  I always knew there was something you were hiding and I knew that you would eventually tell me.  We'll always be good friends.'  And so, I found out where Jack lived and I went up."

"Then what happened?" Mr. Bodine asked, his eyes lighting up with anticipation.

"We married.  2 years later, I had my daughter Crystal.  And we lived very comfortable in Jack's hometown for a number of years.  He died of course.  Peacefully, in his sleep.  He has a bad heart, and although he had come back from death to be with me, death still had a grip on him.   He was 40.  I was sad when he died, but he told me to go on with my life and be happy.  I mourned for months and months."

"But your last name, It isn't Dawson." Mr. Lovett replied.

"No.  That's because I met John.  John was gentle and kind and he loved me.  He loved Crystal too.  He died last year.   I was happy, and I still am.  I had a short time with Jack, or so it may seem to you, but those few years we had, it was a lifetime to me.  I wouldn't change anything because we spent everyday as if it were our last.  We traveled, we laughed and cried.  To this day, I still remember his smile, his eyes, and his voice.  He lives in here."  She put a hand to her heart.

"My grandfather, my real grandfather," Lizzie began. "He was a very generous and loving man.    I never got to meet him, but I see him in every piece of work that is on the walls of my grandmother's house.  Granddad John, he never made nana take down the work.  He appreciated it and he respected Jack."  She turned to her grandmother.  "Thank you for telling me the whole story nana."

Rose smiled and took her granddaughters hand.

Rose reminisced about the past as she looked out at the pristine water.  It looked the same as it had when she was 17.  It was probably still just as cold too.  She got flashbacks of her few days on Titanic.   _You won't do it.   Don't presume to say what I will or will not do, you don't know me….. Water, like water down there, it hits you like a thousand knives hitting all over your body, this is if the fall doesn't get you first….  So what is this thing you've been carrying around….these are good, these are very good……I'm going to marry Cal……they're killing you rose, and soon that fire that I love about you, is going to die out._

She breathed in a breath of air to try and stop the tears.  And then, she remembered her life after the great bloody ship.   How her and Jack and traveled all over.  How they had just spend hours in bed, talking.  Then their time, running and playing with Crystal.  How serene Jack had looked when Crystal and fallen asleep in his arms and he had nodded off.  Most importantly she remembered the words he had spoken before she had left him, the night he had died.

"Rose.  Rose don't cry." He had reached a frail hand up to touch her cheek.  He had tubes coming from his hand and body and he almost looked as white as the sheet he was lying against.  "It's just my time now.  We knew it had to happen eventually." He tried to chuckle but started to cough.  

"It's cruel.  It's fate playing that cruel joke on me again."

"I don't think it was ever a joke Rose.  I really think I was supposed to die then, but God, or whoever, thought that I deserved a second chance, but that chance was only good for so long.   I'm being called back now."

Rose tried to hold back her tears, but they continued to roll down her cheeks.  "Why isn't it my time too?" she asked.

"Because you have to take care of Crystal."

"Crystal is almost 16.  If something were to happen to me too, she would be able to survive on her own."

"it would be hard.  Rose, I don't feel angry, why do you?"

"I can't lose you again."

"But you're not losing me.  I'll always be here with you and Crystal.  I may be leaving this sick body, but I'll always be here." He put his hand to her chest, over her heart.

"I love you Jack."

"This is the time to say goodbye now." He frowned. "Even though I'm okay with dying, I don't like leaving, I don't want to leave.  I love you too Rose.  I know I didn't say it very often, but I do.  I have since the moment I saw you and it never stopped."   Rose bent down to kiss him, for the last time.   She had known that it would be the last time right there but she hoped desperately that it wasn't. "Please, be happy Rose.  Go on with yoru life, do more extraordinary things and still, live everyday as if it were your last.  It won't take long before you're telling someone else this." Crystal had gone in to sit with her father for a while and she fell asleep in a chair in the waiting room.  She had woken to the sounds of Crystal's sobs.  Rose opened her eyes and saw Crystal, Long Red hair down her back ad flowing, clear blue eyes with deep red rings.  Her face was blemished with red on her cheeks which showed how upset she was.

"Papa's dead, momma."  She balled even harder.  Rose took her into her arms.

"It's okay darling.  Papa's not hurting anymore, Papa won't ever hurt again."  She tried not to cry into her daughters shoulder, but her eyes refused to hold back and the floodgates spilled over.

She remembered even more how Lizzie had looked the day she was born.  How proud Crystal and her husband had been.  Rose had held Lizzie in her arms and marveled at how much like Jack she actually looked.

"She looks like Papa you know." Crystal said from the bed.

"I noticed." Rose looked up at her tired daughter. "He would be very proud of you.  A college woman, a darling husband, a perfect baby."

"Your wrong momma." Rose looked startled.  "He is proud. Proud of you too momma.  You went through a lot and you're a strong woman because of it."  He's always been with us.  He promised to always be here, and I never felt otherwise.

Rose looked out at the water again.   She didn't know how long she had been standing here, but now, the sun had set and it was dark, except for the stars.  The air was chilly.  From within her pocket she felt the heaviness.  She reached into it and pulled out the awful blue paperweight.  She laughed.   After she started to make money, she had gone back to the pawn shop and reclaimed it.  She didn't know why.  It was a memento of her past life. It was always around to remind her of how different she was now.   She was finally able to let it go.   She climbed up onto the second rail and looked down once more into the abyss.  "Hello old friends.  I've thought about you often.  I've never forgotten any of you."  She smiled, remembering all those she had met that had died.  She looked at the diamond one last time and then, watched as it slithered off her palm and into the water.

"I'm ready now Jack.  I'm coming to be with you now."   She sighed and started back toward her state room.

End Note:  I know its kinda cliché about the necklace.  I mean I was one of the first people to cry out in the theatre... "Moron", but hey, it is a romantic flick and romance often has some silly things happen.  Anyway, just want to mention that I might be wrong a bit in some of the quotes or the years.  I couldn't remember if she said 82 or 84.  Anyway.  This is it.  The finale.   Hope that you enjoyed reading as much I did writing it.


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